“In 2012 after forty-three years in the family justice system (fourteen sitting as a judge) watching the inexorable and seemingly unstoppable rise in family breakdown, I began to talk publicly about the scale and depth of the problem.
I was not popular. But I was driven by three motives. Firstly a desire to challenge the entrenched belief that nothing could be done to stop the rot, secondly, a conviction, having watched the fallout for so long in the Family Courts, that our children were the sector of the population most adversely affected by the epidemic; and thirdly, that the remedies had to be applied not only to the amelioration of the problem but its entrenched causes. In short, our children’s life chances were being seriously and permanently damaged and we had to do something to publicise the scale of the problem and suggest solutions.
Fortunately, and wonderfully I discovered that others shared both my concerns and vision. Thus, was Marriage Foundation born and launched in May that year. Most thought it was a hair-brained idea with no future. Now, several years on we have confounded our critics. Time and again our research department has injected reality and hard evidence into this debate with eye catching research which the media have broadcast. We are justifiably proud of our achievements thus far, but we still have a long way to go. The campaign must go on for ‘the good of society, especially our children’. Please join us, be part of our journey as we challenge the social injustices of family breakdown.”